Using the daydreaming frequency scale to investigate the relationships between mind-wandering, psychological well-being, and present-moment awareness

摘要

Recent findings have shown that mind-wandering – the occurrence of stimulusindependentand task-unrelated thoughts – is associated with negative affect and lowerpsychological well-being. However, it remains unclear whether this relationship is due tothe occurrence of mind-wandering per se or to the fact that people who mind wandermore tend to be generally less attentive to present-moment experience. In three studies,we first validate a French translation of a retrospective self-report questionnaire widelyused to assess the general occurrence of mind-wandering in daily life – the DaydreamingFrequency Scale. Using this questionnaire, we then show that the relationship betweenmind-wandering frequency and psychological distress is fully accounted for by individualdifferences in dispositional mindful awareness and encoding style.These findings suggestthat it may not be mind-wandering per se that is responsible for psychological distress,but rather the general tendency to be less aware and attentive to the present-moment.Thus, although mind-wandering and present-moment awareness are related constructs,they are not reducible to one another, and are distinguishable in terms of their relationshipwith psychological well-being.